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Planet of Giants (TV story)
Planet of Giants 'is the first serial of the second season of ''Doctor Who. ''It was written by Louis Marks, directed by Mervyn Pinfield and Douglas Camfield and featured William Hartnell as the First Doctor, William Russell as Ian Chesterton, Jacqueline Hill as Barbara Wright and Carole Ann Ford as Susan Foreman. Overview ''To be added Synopsis The TARDIS doors open while the ship is still in flight by accident. Although they have arrived back on Earth in the 1960s, a time they have been trying to return to since they all met, the travellers soon realise that something is very wrong. The Doctor, Ian, Barbara and Susan discover that they have all be reduced in size and the world they are now exploring has dangers at every turn… Plot Planet of Giants (1) The Doctor casually tinkers with the TARDIS console when Barbara burns her hand on it. Susan goes to check the fault locator when a loud alarm blares and Susan sees the interior doors swinging open. As the TARDIS hadn't properly materialised, the Doctor cries for Ian and Barbara to close them. After the doors close, the ship properly lands; Susan looks at the fault locator again and can't find any faults. The Doctor apologises for his initial rudeness and goes to look at the scanner when it spontaneously explodes, seemingly from trying to view something too large for it's radius. After confirming it's safe, the travellers step outside into a large, quarry-like environment. Ian examines the rock formations but can't properly discern what they are. The Doctor and Barbara go search in one direction while Ian and Susan take the other. While wandering, Barbara stumbles across what appears to be a giant, dead snake. Susan and Ian, meanwhile, find giant ovular eggs and a large dead ant standing on top of them. Examining the other end of the creature, the Doctor discerns what Barbara found to be a giant earthworm. Ian and Susan walk on a little further and come across a giant seed packet with Norfolk written on it, confirming that they're on Earth. Walking on the other side of it, they find an equally large matchbox. The Doctor and Barbara come across a giant matchstick and realise that the artefacts that they've found aren't bigger but the TARDIS and all four of them have shrunk to around an inch in height. Susan comes to the same conclusion, by Ian is skeptical of this. They are suddenly shaken by a strange earthquake, caused by a man walking over and grabbing his possessions off the ground. Susan returns to the matchbox to find it and Ian gone. As the man walks over to a chair and sits down, Ian is thrown around violently in the matchbox. The Doctor climbs up to the top of a paving slab to see the man sitting outside a house. As the Doctor, Susan and Barbara head after Ian, the man, Farrow, is approached by an associate, Forrester. He demands Farrow put forth his approval for DN6, an insecticide of his own design, but he refuses to give it for fear of damaging the agriculture. As Farrow goes to post his experimental report to his superiors before he leaves, Forrester pulls a gun on him. While the Doctor, Susan and Barbara wander around, they narrowly avoid being crushed by a giant, falling bee, dead like everything else. Barbara wonders if what is killing the insects could do the same to them, to which the Doctor insists the assumption that it can. The three are alerted by a thunderous bang, which was in actuality the sound of Forrester gunning Farrow down. Beside Farrow's dead body is the open matchbox; Ian emerges from the matchbox and finds the giant face of Farrow. Reunited with the others, Ian shows them Farrow's body, discerning that he was murdered. Unbeknownst to them, a cat watches them look at the body and is right on top of them as they turn to leave. Dangerous Journey (2) The travellers stay dead still and eventually the cat loses interest and walks off. Susan suggests they try and contact someone for help, but Ian and Barbara say that their height would make that course of action impossible and the Doctor points out that there is a murderer in the house anyway. As they turn to go, Forrester approaches to collect Farrow's things. While the Doctor and Susan head for a drainpipe, Ian and Barbara hide in the briefcase. Forrester discusses Farrow's death with Smithers, a colleague of his, and try to discern what to do next. Forrester suggests disposing of Farrow's corpse on his boat as he was intended to head to France on it. Smithers agrees to go along with it under the agreement that he has nothing more to do with Forrester's actions. Forrester brings Farrow's bag, along with Ian and Barbara, into the laboratory. He and Smithers then proceed to move Farrow's body. The Doctor and Susan emerge from hiding and find the pipe pervading with the smell of chemicals. He suggests that the pair of them climb up the corroded pipe to get inside the lab to get to the others. While they clamber up the pipe to the room above, Ian and Barbara look around the lab, finding an array of giant scientific equipment. They stumble across a pile of wheat seeds covered in a strange substance; Ian deduces from the seeds that the scientists are creating a new insecticide, unaware that Barbara got in on her hands. While they try to get the clasp of Farrow's briefcase open, Barbara encounters a giant fly and faints; when Ian arrives, the fly takes of and lands on the seed pile, killing it instantly. Forrester and Smithers return having disposed of Farrow's body, forcing Ian to grab Barbara and hide. As soon as they leave, the Doctor and Susan make it to the top of the drain and find themselves in a sink. Barbara wakes up and appears very distressed by the fly and is about to tell him about touching the seeds when they hear Susan cry out using the sink as a means of amplifying her voice. As Ian and Barbara starts climbing down the plug chain, Smithers finishes cleaning up the mess outside. They head inside to wash their hands, forcing Ian and Barbara to climb back up the chain and the Doctor and Susan to climb back down the pipe. Smithers puts the plug back in the sink and starts filling it up. After he finishes rinsing his hands, he removes the plug. Crisis (3) Just as Smithers unplugs the sink, the Doctor and Susan scurry into the overflow pipe as the sink begins to drain. As soon as Smithers and Forrester leave, Ian and Barbara head down the plug chain again to find the Doctor and Susan climbing out of the pipe, perfectly well. Forrester finishes finalising Farrow's report and calls it into his superiors, disguising his voice to conceal his identity, and gets the green light to get it produced. The travellers find a notepad with the formula for DN6 written on it; mapping the oversized formula onto a smaller notepad and making it readable. The Doctor proposes investigating the telephone by the sink as a means of stopping DN6 from getting into the soil and infecting natural food and water, making it dangerous to all wildlife and eventually humans. With Barbara getting weaker, the Doctor, Ian and Susan use corks to hoist a telephone receiver off it's hook and make a call to the police. In spite of the authorities not being able to hear them, the line opening does alert the switchboard operator, Hilda Rowse and her policeman husband, Bert, that something is amiss. Barbara tries to stop Ian touching the handkerchief from before before she falls unconscious from the DN6. She awakens quite quickly from the effect of the insecticide, while the Doctor confides in Ian that Barbara's body can't fight the poison in her bloodstream and that she'll die if she doesn't return to her normal size quickly. In spite of this, they all agree to stop Forrester's plans before heading back to the TARDIS. Forrester finds himself unable to use the phone, so Smithers goes to check the line by the sink, while also going to check Farrow's notes; Forrester draws and loads his pistol at the mention of this. The Doctor decides to cause a disturbance that will draw the attention of the authorities and proposes to start a fire in the lab. They hear Smithers and Forrester re-enter and hide; Forrester answers a call from the switchboard operator but she realises that he is trying to disguise his voice and is convinced that something is going on, so Bert goes to investigate. After the Doctor, Barbara and Susan turn the gas tap on, Ian and Susan use a large matchstick from the box to try and ignite it while the Doctor and Barbara put a pressurised spray can in front of the tap, which would explode when burned. After everything is set, the travellers hide to avoid getting hit with any stray metal. The can explodes and shots insecticide in Forrester's eyes as he re-enters and the noise alerts the policeman, who arrives and apprehends him. The travellers then make for the TARDIS, the Doctor grabbing one of the giant seeds as they leave. Barbara grows incredibly weak when they return to the ship; the Doctor proceeds to re-enact the same procedure that took place during landing and the seed that he took shrinks back to a normal size. Barbara soon regains consciousness and all are overjoyed that they are back to normal size. While his companions go to clean themselves up, the TARDIS begins to materialise and the Doctor hopes that he'll know where they are this time. Cast * Dr. Who - William Hartnell * Ian Chesterton - William Russell * Barbara Wright - Jacqueline Hill * Susan Foreman - Carole Ann Ford * Forester - Alan Tilvern * Farrow - Frank Crawshaw * Smithers - Reginald Barratt * Hilda Rowse - Rosemary Johnson * Bert Rowse - Fred Ferris Crew * Writer - Louis Marks * Director - Mervyn Pinfield * Director - Douglas Camfield * Producer - Verity Lambert * Script Editor - David Whitaker * Designer - Raymond Cusick * Assistant Floor Manager - Dawn Robertson * Assistant Floor Manager - Val McCrimmon * Associate Producer - Mervyn Pinfield * Costumes - Daphne Dare * Incidental Music - Dudley Simpson * Make-Up - Jill Summers * Production Assistant - Norman Stewart * Special Sound - Brian Hodgson * Studio Lighting - Howard King * Sound Mixing - Alan Fogg * Theme Arrangement - Delia Derbyshire * Title Music - Ron Grainer References To be added Story notes To be added Broadcast & Ratings Continuity To be added Home video and audio releases To be added External Links * Official ''Planet of Giants'' page on '''Doctor Who Website Category:First Doctor Television Stories Category:Season 2 stories Category:1964 television stories Category:Three-part stories Category:Stories set in England